Trucks
of a Russian convoy carrying humanitarian aid for Ukraine before
they parked at a camp near Donetsk in the Rostov
Region.Thomson
Reuters

Ukraine declared on Friday that Russia had
launched a "direct invasion" of its territory
after Moscow sent a convoy of aid trucks across the
border into eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels are
fighting government forces.

Ukraine will not attack the convoy of
Russian aid trucks that has crossed into Ukrainian territory and
wants to avoid any "provocations," Ukrainian state security
chief Valentyn Nalivaychenko said
Friday.

In response to a question whether Ukraine would use airstrikes against the convoy
of trucks that are traveling through rebel-controlled Ukrainian
territory, Nalivaychenko said: "Against them, no."

Moscow, which has thousands of troops close on the Russian side
of the border, warned against any attempt to "disrupt" the convoy
but did not specify what action it was prepared to take if Kiev's
forces intervened.

The Ukraine conflict has driven relations
between Moscow and the West to their lowest level since
the Cold War, with western states imposing sanctions
on Moscow and the Kremlin retaliating. NATO has
deployed extra troops in member states bordering Russia.

A Reuters witness said some 70 white-painted trucks, part of a
column of about 260 that had been waiting at the border for
permission for over a week, had crossed onto Ukrainian soil and
was heading toward the rebel stronghold of Luhansk escorted
by a small number of pro-Moscow separatist fighters.

Ukrainian authorities gave the number of trucks that had crossed
variously as 34 and 90.

"They passed into Ukraine without clearance or
participation of the International Red Cross or
(Ukrainian) border guards," Ukrainian military
spokesman Andriy Lysenko told journalists.

"We consider this a direct invasion
by Russia of Ukraine," Ukrainian state security
chief Valentyn Nalivaychenko said in a separate
statement to journalists.

But Ukrainian authorities said the convoy would pass through an
area in which the rebels were firing and that therefore its
security could not be guaranteed.

Luhansk region has been a major focus of conflict in recent days
between rebels, who have declared an independent republic, and
Ukrainian forces. Luhansk city itself has seen fighting.

Moscow had earlier expressed impatience with holdups at the
frontier.

"All excuses to delay sending aid have been exhausted," the
Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. "The
Russian side has taken the decision to act.

"We warn against any attempts to disrupt this purely humanitarian
mission," it added.

"Responsibility for any possible consequences of provocations ...
will lie, completely and entirely, with those who are prepared to
further sacrifice human lives for the sake of their ambitions and
geo-political ploys."

Red Cross Declines To Escort

The International Committee for the Red Cross, which
both Moscow and Kiev had agreed should supervise the
convoy, said it was not escorting it "due to the volatile
security situation."

Kiev has been using troops, artillery, and air power in an
attempt to quell a separatist rebellion that broke out soon
after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula
from Ukraine in March. The past few weeks have seen a
string of rebel defeats in a conflict that has killed over 2,000
people.

Kiev and Western capitals have expressed concern that the convoy
could be used as a pretext for some form of direct Russian
military intervention. Russia, at odds with Kiev since
popular protests drove a pro-Russian president from office,
denies the accusation as absurd.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday
he would call on President Vladimir Putin to rein in
pro-Russian separatists when the two men meet next week, and he
told the Kremlin chief he had "a strong country, a strong army"
behind him.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to visit
Kiev on Saturday to show her support for Poroshenko — but
diplomats say she is also bearing a message that he should
consider calling a cease-fire so as not to incur a backlash from
Putin.

The dispatch of the Russian convoy onto Ukrainian territory
greatly complicates the situation, presenting Ukraine with a
stark choice of whether or how to confront what it sees as an
illegal incursion.

The Foreign Ministry and Border Guard in the former
Soviet republic of Ukraine had no immediate comment on
the announcement from Moscow.

Russia denies sending arms and advisers to help the rebels.

After four months of fighting in the industrial,
Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, the area faces a
humanitarian crisis, lacking supplies of food, medicine, and
clean water.